BasicMED... Really????

[GeeBee]

1 hour ago, Sabremech said:

Nope! The risk of anesthesia along with a perforated colon from someone I have no idea of their skill level is an absolute no. I do Cologuard as I have zero family history of Colon cancer. If something comes back from Cologuard, I will only go to someone my physician recommends. 
How much colon cancer is actually being detected or prevented? Is this just another money maker for the Colonoscopy clinics?  

My grandfather died of CC. My brother had it and beat it but it was a close run thing for a while. In two instances doctors have removed polyps from me that would have undoubtedly resulted in cancer at some date. So I am a walking poster child for the effectiveness of the procedure. The anesthesia risk is very small because they use propofol, a very clean, well tolerated and short acting anesthesia (unless you name is Michael Jackson). The risk of a perforated bowel is real, but is usually caused by inexperienced and non-board certified physicians who think it is easy. You want to go to a board certified gastro with a large endoscopy operation. They get the big bucks and drive the Porsches because they know what they are doing......but they have to deal with a-holes all day.

[Sabremech]

14 minutes ago, GeeBee said:

My grandfather died of CC. My brother had it and beat it but it was a close run thing for a while. In two instances doctors have removed polyps from me that would have undoubtedly resulted in cancer at some date. So I am a walking poster child for the effectiveness of the procedure. The anesthesia risk is very small because they use propofol, a very clean, well tolerated and short acting anesthesia (unless you name is Michael Jackson). The risk of a perforated bowel is real, but is usually caused by inexperienced and non-board certified physicians who think it is easy. You want to go to a board certified gastro with a large endoscopy operation. They get the big bucks and drive the Porsches because they know what they are doing......but they have to deal with a-holes all day.

I’ve said my piece. We are all genetically unique. Your family history does not have anything in common with mine. 
Thanks and best to you.

David

[M20F]

5 minutes ago, Sabremech said:

I’ve said my piece. We are all genetically unique. Your family history does not have anything in common with mine. 
Thanks and best to you.

David

There is no history of rectal cancer on my father’s side (7 aunts/uncles) nor on my mother’s side (11 great aunts/uncles).  I have almost 200 living relatives third cousin to great/aunt-uncle.  I have a female first cousin who had some pre-cancerous polyps removed, otherwise octogenarians. 
 
These days rectal cancer is the cancer flavor, while in years past it was more did you have  family history. 
 
My intent isn’t to debate it is just to say I had no history and never a health issue.  In 2022(52yrs old) I was really tired.  I ascribed that to traveling 150+ days a year.  Then I had some interesting digestive issues in August.  By the time I finally got myself scoped in early November it was stage 4. 
 
I sat next to a fair amount of people getting chemo bullshitting and eating Cheezits.  A few of them died. 
 
You do you, I am not a Doctor but I am a survivor.  I have seen people who look better than me at the start melt away in the chair next to me taking chemo and die. 

If this message saves one person, makes me happy. 

[GeeBee]

Colorectal cancer is as much diet and lifestyle as it is genetics. To prove the point, Germans have a low rate and it is believed, sauerkraut has a large part in prevention despite a diet heavy in meats and gravies. 

We are seeing many more cancers now from people with little history or genetic pre-disposition. I lost a sister-in-law last month to lung cancer who never smoked and had no genetic history. 

My late wife, for no particular reason or genetic history developed pancreatic cancer.

Simply put, the old precursors are no longer solely indicative. It is much more complex. 

[Andy95W]

You don’t really need anesthesia for a colonoscopy.  Not painful, not even really uncomfortable.

Plus I could watch on the video monitor and I didn’t need anyone to meet me or drive me home.

[Hank]

23 minutes ago, Andy95W said:

You don’t really need anesthesia for a colonoscopy.  Not painful, not even really uncomfortable.

Plus I could watch on the video monitor and I didn’t need anyone to meet me or drive me home.

Oh, come on! My uncle woke up halfway through one, and the doctor made sure he didn't wake up the next time until after they were finished. 

Really,that propofol nap is the best part of the entire process! 

[MikeOH]

32 minutes ago, Andy95W said:

You don’t really need anesthesia for a colonoscopy.  Not painful, not even really uncomfortable.

Plus I could watch on the video monitor and I didn’t need anyone to meet me or drive me home.

THAT is just nuts!  I partially woke up during one of my colonoscopies and it felt like someone had shoved a garden hose up my ....  it hurt like hell until they cranked up the propofol! No surprise since they pretty much ARE shoving a garden hose up there!

[FlyingDude]

14 hours ago, Andy95W said:

You don’t really need anesthesia for a colonoscopy.  Not painful, not even really uncomfortable.

The problem is not whether it's comfortable or painful... The real problem is what if you like it...

[GeeBee]

They ask me what level of sedation and I say, "I want to be out like a Grizzly getting a radio collar".

[Pinecone]

22 hours ago, EricJ said:

For me the main reluctance is the prep.   I had it done once and the prep was so awful I don't ever want to have to go through that again.   I think if the prep were better more people would do it, and there appears to be a large variance in how prep is done.    If you get one of the awful ones, like I did, you really, really don't want to go back.   I've had friends that had some simple, easy prep one time, and then awful another, so I don't know why there's a difference or why anyone would want to do the awful kind.

 

Agreed.  My first one, the prep was not bad at all. 

The most recent one, it seems the prep would never stop working.  In fact it was still working a couple of days later.

[Skates97]

On 7/18/2024 at 3:14 PM, Sabremech said:

Nope! The risk of anesthesia along with a perforated colon from someone I have no idea of their skill level is an absolute no. I do Cologuard as I have zero family history of Colon cancer.

I understand this, a very good friend had hers done at a highly respected hospital here in SoCal, not some clinic. A few nights later she woke in the middle of the night in excruciating pain. Her husband called 911 and emergency surgery saved her life, minus a few inches of her colon.

On 7/18/2024 at 3:40 PM, EricJ said:

My doc stresses that I get this done because he's had patients with it and, "it's a lousy way to die."   Apparently it's a very bad road to go down, so some docs that have been there with patients are pretty firm about testing.

Lost one friend a few years ago to colon cancer, never had a colonoscopy and his father passed away from colon cancer. He's the one I wrote about in my article. It was a terrible (very rapid) decline and passing. My wife and I have another friend who is in his 70's diagnosed with colon cancer and likely only has a month or so to live. It is all very sad.

Having never been under general anesthesia I was more nervous about that than the prep, but the prep I got went very smoothly (pun intended) and the 75 micrograms of Fentanyl and 5 milligrams of Midazolam they gave me put me out and I thankfully woke back up!  I won't be as nervous for the next time I'm due.

[Matthew P]

They want to make sure your head is going to fit at some point ;)

 

[Air pirate]

My last colonoscopy I told the Sawbones before I went under “doc be gentle with my balloon knot “.  
 

he said “ I’ll treat it like it was my very own “

not sure I liked the sound of that 

 

[GeeBee]

Words of wisdom on colonoscopies. If the doc needs hearing aids, get up and walk away. Just walk away.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/florida-doc-not-wearing-hearing-193408086.html